The present invention relates to an organic or inorganic electroluminescence (EL) cell. More particularly, the present invention relates to a luminescence cell, a luminescence device with the luminescence cell, a luminescence unit, a luminescence device with the luminescence unit, and a frame for the luminescence device, and a method for manufacturing the luminescence cell.
A lighting system or a display using an organic or inorganic EL device is conventionally known. However, enlargement of the EL device, particularly enlargement of the organic EL device is technically difficult. The main reason for this is because the materials of the EL device are vulnerable to the atmosphere. If oxygen and moisture in the atmosphere enter the EL device, a non-light emitting part (dark spot) is created or the properties are changed, and the EL device may not satisfy the properties as designed. Therefore, a large EL device is likely to breakdown. Further, since the yield in the manufacturing stage is not satisfactory, a large lighting system and display are difficult to form with the EL device.
A technique for aligning a plurality of small EL devices to form a large lighting system or a display has been proposed.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-143398 discloses a device in which a plurality of display lamps is integrated. In such a device, a plurality of organic electroluminescence devices each corresponding to a plurality of display lamps is divided and formed on one sheet of base material.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-173771 discloses a line light source. The line light source includes a thin-film light emitting element including a light emitting region made by stacking a substrate, an anode, a thin-film layer and a cathode in order. A part where the anode and the cathode do not contact each other is formed by the thin-film layer. Thus, the line light source includes a plurality of light emitting regions divided in the longitudinal direction of the line light source.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-102171 discloses a method for manufacturing an electroluminescence display unit. The method includes a step for laminating a plurality of small panels in which a circuit is formed on a respective pixel region and a large substrate, a step for forming the electroluminescence device on each pixel region, and a step for sealing all the electroluminescence devices.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-126871 discloses an EL backlight device in which at least two EL sheets are joined together to be used as an area light source with a desired area. A marginal electrode is arranged at the edge of each EL sheet. The edge of one of the EL sheet overlaps one part of the edge of the other EL sheet at the joint of the EL sheets. The marginal electrode is not arranged at such overlapping part.